Are We in Trouble?

We all occasionally have to miss a day of school due to illness, workshops, or personal matters. One of my pet peeves is when I come back and find out that my kids did not behave well for my substitute teacher.  Having substituted during my college years, I truly understand how very difficult that job is. I tried everything from work overload to threats to get my kids to behave themselves, and nothing seemed to work. I really can't tell you why kids go absolutely insane when they find out their teacher is away, but we all know they do.

For the last three years, I have offered a Reward Day to the best-behaved class and the winner is chosen by the substitute teacher.  I usually let them choose from one of the class games I have on the whiteboard such as The Noun Game, Scrabble, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader, etc. What's great is I can actually slide in some review and they don't even realize it!

Since I started this practice of Reward Day, I have received many compliments on how "good my kids are" and  "what hard workers they are". Seriously, it's like a trip to Bizarro World! Try it! It really is great to come back to class and have the kids ask if they were the "best behaved" instead of "Are we in trouble?". 

Bust Out the Games and Have Some Fun!

I know that the entire school year is a busy time, but I always feel overwhelmed at the end of the year. Testing, purchase orders, field trips, grades, inventory, packing, collecting, and storing all have to be done before we close our classroom doors.

 We also have classes to teach, but after testing the kids tend to become whiny and don't want to work. With only a few weeks left, you are probably assigning projects and reports to keeping the kids on track. Me too. For me, it is also time to bust out the games and have some fun!

I am working on posting, creating, and updating some of my games and will be posting them here over the next few weeks. They will also be posted in my TPT store for free. I hope some of you can use them to trick those kids into doing a little end-of-year thinking.

BOGGLE - is similar to the original game and can be downloaded in my TPT store by clicking HERE

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The Noun Game- This is one of my kid's favorites! It is a flip-chart format that I use with my Promethean Board. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a fun and engaging game. I have written about this game before and you can find the full details in my October archives. To download it from my google drive click HERE.

Brain Games #1- This is a PowerPoint of twenty-five brain teasers of various levels and subject areas. My kids (who say they don't like to think) love these. I guess the jokes are on them! To download click HERE. 

Lets Play Scattergories
(Flipchart)

Wet and Water Punch Cards

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer break. I know I sure am. So much so that my blog has been very neglected. As I attempt to get back into the swing of things, I thought I would share a little classroom tip. 

This is a template for the punch cards I use in class.  I laminate the cards and put them on a ring to hang by my classroom door. When a student needs to go to the restroom they find their card and bring it to me to punch for them. This was a great way to keep track of and limit the number of times students leave the room. 


My students are allowed to leave five times per semester for the restroom or get water.  Since they have time between classes and are allowed to go to other classes this was more than enough passes. students who had unused punches got a piece of candy for each punch they did not use.  



This has five different colors and eight cards per page. It is in Word format so you can edit it for your particular needs. You can download it from my TPT store. Enjoy!

Punch Card Pass

Interactive Notebook Activities for Your Whiteboard

I love doing ISNs in my classroom!  However, sometimes I find myself explaining several times what I want on the left side due to multi-step directions. . This year I decided to create a PowerPoint of the various activities that I had into one PowerPoint so I could provide them with a visual.  This is a collection of fifty different activities to use in social studies or ELA. I am offering this as a  resource in my TPT store. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment and don't forget to follow me if you haven't already.

To download this product click HERE

 I also have a FREE document version and you can download it HERE

The Purge

I have been teaching for 17 years and like many of you who have been at it for years, I have collected numerous books, units, games, etc. My colleagues always tell me "You are so organized!" and in my head, I think to myself "if you only knew". The other day I was working in my room and realized that I am "neat", not necessarily organized.  I have all of my files color coded to match that grade's textbook (7th red, 8th green, 9th orange), I have set organization for classroom procedures, and of course, gone digital and rely heavily on my clouds.  Yet I still felt like I was looking for stuff all the time.

Then I realized I just had too much stuff that I don't use. We all go through our closets every year (or two) and purge our belongings. We hold yard sales, and donate things. Teachers, on the other hand, tend to find neat ways to hoard their stuff.  

So do schools in general. I am getting some much-needed, and very expensive, new textbooks. I asked what to do with my old ones and they want to box them up and store them. Why they are not on their way to the dumpster is beyond me.

I started with books, literature sets, and units that I no longer teach and set them on one side of my room in rows like a yard sale. I then went to the elementary librarian (I am in high school)  to announce that there were free books in my room at the end of their faculty meeting. Within one hour (no exaggeration) everything was whisked away. It was amazing! Someone mentioned eBay, and I will admit I have made some decent money there selling teaching units and Big Books, but I felt that route was too time-consuming. Plus, I feel better when I can help other people out rather than making a couple of dollars.

After that, I took a trash can over to my shelves and started checking out binders. I did not even open them. If I did not use them last year I pitched them. I freed up two more shelves! It was liberating!

Monday I am going through the filing cabinets, No extra copies. Nothing that I have not used in the last two years is going to stay! I have people asking me if I am retiring, others probably think I am gravely ill, but the truth is I am on a quest to truly get myself organized. We purge our homes, our bodies, and even our emotions. Why not our classrooms? Take a deep breath and let it go, literally.

Use Velcro Dots to Calm Students

Today I wanted to share a little tip to help calm those students that become distracted and squirmy during lessons. I buy Velcro dots and stick them to the upper right and left hand corners of students desks. The calming effect the students get from rubbing their fingers over the Velcro is amazing!

I recommend the black because they don't show dirt, and students are less tempted to write on them. My kids love them and will often ask for new ones if their's go missing. I promise that your kids will settle down and lessons will be more effective without all of the distractions.  Try it and let me know how it worked for you.

Welcome!

My name is Renee Miler and I am new to the blogging scene. I want a place to share some of the random things that take place in my life, and in my classroom. I also want to share some of the interesting sites, blogs, and people that I come across on the web. I have seen so many awesome blogs lately that I must admit I am a little bit intimidated.  However, most are geared toward the elementary classroom and this one will be more for those of us who are crazy enough to teach in the middle.

I am a retired teacher who taught at a small rural school in Missouri. I teach 7th grade and 8th grade. and Freshman language arts (no pressure there).  I really like teaching and I love my job. I must admit though that it seems that teachers have become the "bad guys" in the last few years both in the media and with lawmakers.  If you have tenure and have devoted your life to a school district, people assume you no longer work as hard, or you are unwilling to try new strategies in your classroom. I think this current mentality is what has prompted me to start this blog. 

I have changed the way I do things every year in my room. I am constantly on the lookout for some way to make my lessons more engaging for my kids.  I will be sharing some of my finds, and some of the things that I have learned over the years in weekly posts on this site.  Hopefully, you will be able to find some ideas to help you in your classroom as you pursue your career in the ever-changing world of education.